Keep it Fun
Football is a game, it's not life. While there are wonderful life lessons to be learned from the game, we as coaches cannot be so caught up in pummeling our opponent that we forget this important principle. In youth football, you've been successful as a coach if you've made the game so fun that kids want to play it again next year.
Teach the Fundamentals
The best football players of today learned the fundamentals of the game many years ago. This is in our job description as a youth football coach. Simplify. Teach. Take the time now to focus on fundamentals, and teach them how to make a good block, how to catch the football, and how to make a solid tackle. Set them up for success in their future football career by laying a solid foundation now.
Teach Good Sportsmanship
We are privileged to have a role in the shaping of some young people, and we need to take that responsibility seriously. Our kids should be the ones breaking up the fights in school, not starting them. Our kids should be the ones leading by example with their grades, effort, and enthusiasm. And if we expect them to lead by example, it starts with us. We can encourage good sportsmanship and physical intensity at the same. I love to see players going as hard as they can between whistles, and after the play, helping each other up and going back to do it again.